Trump takes Veterans Day speech in a very different direction
Former President Donald J. Trump, on a day set aside to celebrate those who defended the United States in uniform, vowed to honor veterans in part by attacking what he portrayed as America’s greatest enemy: the political left.
Using inflammatory and dehumanizing language to refer to his opponents, Mr. Trump promised to “eradicate” the radical left-wing criminals who live like vermin within the borders of our country.
“The threat from outside forces is far less sinister, dangerous and serious than the threat from within,” Trump said Saturday during a nearly two-hour Veterans Day speech in Claremont, N.H.
He also pledged to care for America’s veterans, reviving a hyperbolic claim he made during his 2016 campaign that Democrats are “treating the illegal aliens pouring into our country better than they are treating our veterans.”
And he said he would use money currently earmarked for “the shelter and transportation of illegal aliens” to instead provide shelter and treatment for homeless military veterans.
Here are some of the most notable elements of Mr. Trump’s Veterans Day speech.
Cameras in the courtroom
Mr. Trump, who faces a civil fraud trial in New York and four criminal charges, said in a radio interview earlier this week that he would welcome cameras in the courtroom. He continued on Saturday.
“I want this process to be seen by everyone in the world,” Trump told a cheering crowd, referring to his federal election process in Washington. “The prosecutor wants to continue this travesty in the dark, and I want sunlight.”
Mr Trump, who has labeled the prosecutions he faces as politically motivated and accused President Biden of weaponizing the Justice Department, said he was confident that Americans watching the trial would come around to his position .
“Everyone in America and abroad should have the opportunity to study this case firsthand,” he said.
Trump’s comments came the day after his lawyers in the case filed documents arguing that the proceedings should be televised, backing a similar push from other media organizations.
It was a rare instance of the former president finding common ground with the mainstream media, which Mr. Trump repeatedly attacked on Saturday.
Hands up
As he has done before, Trump again called for executing drug dealers, praising China for making drug trafficking a capital crime. But in New Hampshire, a state where the opioid crisis has hit particularly hard, he turned to an informal poll to make his case.
“Let’s vote,” Trump told the crowd. “Who would be in favor of the death penalty – wait, don’t go yet – knowing it will solve the problem?”
A majority of the crowd raised their hands.
Fewer hands went up when Trump asked who would oppose such a move. When one woman raised her hand pointedly, Mr. Trump looked at her with a small smile and asked, “Are you a liberal?”
She shook her head wildly to the contrary.
Facts ignored
Mr. Trump also repeated lies, untruths, exaggerations and half-truths that he has routinely told on a number of topics, including gas prices, American energy independence, election fraud and the 2020 election.
“I am a very proud election denier,” Mr. Trump said.
Insults hurled
Trump had previously made no comment on the ongoing rumors about whether Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wears heel raises in his cowboy boots — the subject of late-night jokes and gossip on social media. But on Saturday he finally couldn’t resist.
After mocking Mr. DeSantis for courting farmers in Iowa, Mr. Trump offered a side note: “By the way, I don’t carry a lift either. I don’t have six-inch heels!” The comment echoed a putdown from Vivek Ramaswamy in Wednesday’s debate, where the entrepreneur and author criticized Florida’s governor.
He then did a clownish impression of Mr. DeSantis walking offstage during Wednesday night’s debate that looked like it was ripped from Monty Python’s Ministry of Silly Walks. “I thought he was wearing skates,” Mr. Trump joked.
Mr. Trump also mocked Governor Chris Sununu of New Hampshire, a Republican who has said Trump cannot win next year; Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic former Speaker of the House of Representatives; Hillary Clinton, his 2016 opponent; and Mr. Biden.
Compliments given
Mr. Trump praised Dana White, the president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. “There is a man I would like to appoint as my defense chief,” he said. “I wouldn’t call him my chief of defense, I would call him my chief of offense.”
And he complimented President Xi Jinping of China, of whom he said: “He looks like Central Casting. There is no one in Hollywood who can play the role of President Xi – the looks, the strength, the voice.”